The Ness Award is given to a book that best illuminates the goals and practices of a contemporary liberal education. The award was presented to Bowen at AAC&U’s annual meeting last week in Washington, D.C.

In Teaching Naked, Bowen explores how technology can be most powerfully used outside the classroom rather than as a substitute for traditional classroom learning. Among other things, Bowen discusses particular approaches to using technology to improve learning outcomes and ensure that students arrive to class more prepared for meaningful interaction with faculty.

“José Bowen’s work is both compelling and useful,” said Dianne Harrison, “and it also is very cognizant of the ideals and values of liberal education.”

The Ness Book Award was established by AAC&U in 1979 to honor AAC&U’s president emeritus, Frederic W. Ness. Recent winners include Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession by Dr. Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, Dr. William Sullivan, and Dr. Jonathan R. Dolle; Why Choose the Liberal Arts? by Mark W. Roche; Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education by Peter Sacks; Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More by Derek Bok; Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money by James Engell and Anthony Dangerfield; Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi; Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past by Sam Wineburg; and Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education by Martha Nussbaum.